Into The Shadows
by Nightfallen Sky
Summary: Kasumi used to be a completely ordinary girl. Then, one day, she gets to make the choice of her life! She is given the chance to explore the world of magic as a witch. What she didn't know when she accepted the offer was that soon she would be experiencing fear, doubt, betrayal and eventually she would find herself being dragged into the darkness…
1. Chapter: Decisions

A/N: This is my first time trying to write a fanfiction so it's nowhere near perfect,  
which is why I'd really appreciate critics on how to improve!

As for the story in the first chapters I'll be pretty much following the original game storyline, though I will add a personal touch to the whole concept.

All that's written below is just a preview for the upcoming future events that will happen after the original storyline ended.

* * *

Something was telling me that this was a **really** bad idea but I chose to ignore the voices in my head and lock them up somewhere deep down my thoughts...

Still confused about the warnings my mind had just given me, I turned around to the unexpected one standing there.  
He looked pretty pensive, probably wondering about my unusual behaviour, so I tried to fake a smile.

"Hello, Damien!"  
I tried to make my smile look less forceful but he seemed to notice that something was odd.

As soon as I greeted him, a strange force inside me started to take control over my body. I staggered.  
This didn't feel right.

"Kasumi!" I heard him shouting as I clutched at his hands for support.

My sudden tumble seemed to make him worry. He held me up, staring at me as if he was trying to find out about whatever was happening to me, hints of fear mixed with confusion in his eyes.

He was worried about me. At least that's what I wanted to believe.  
But I barely had time to think about it.

There was a burning feeling inside me as if something was trying to suck out all of my energy.

Then I began to wonder - _was he doing this_? He had tried to kill me before.  
The feeling was similar, but not quite the same.

Just what was happening?

As the pain got worse I began to lose control of my surroundings.

Light and sound rushed into me without meaning, spiralling down, fading away...  
All that was left was emptiness.

"Kasumi... What have you done?" he asked, still having that worried look in his eyes.  
I stared at him blankly, trying to fully understand the situation.

_It wasn't him. No it couldn't have been him. This was different.  
But if this was not his doing then whose was it? _

And then, far too late, it all came together at once.

_How could I have forgotten? I've been told this when I was little.  
When I discovered magic for the first time.  
Choices. Promises. Consequences.  
They all meant more than just words.  
Breaking a witch's promise came with a great price to pay._

"I swore a solemn oath that I would never speak to you again. I broke my vow."  
I looked down being mad at myself for a moment. Then I looked back up to him again, having all kinds of emotions swirling through my mind.

He tried to read them through my eyes. And he managed to - just as if I was an open book.

He had never been able to see through me before. I was very good at putting up a mask of emotions. But that was only as long as I could get hold of what happened. This situation was different. I didn't manage to put on my usual acting. Nothing worked this time.

"What?" His worried look turned into one of disbelief and shock.  
He didn't want to believe it. I could tell.

I tried to flinch back still feeling as if I had no energy left.  
And I felt myself tumbling again.  
He wanted to catch me but I managed to get back on my feet, trying to explain the situation.

"I didn't realise! I mean - I had that warning in my head telling me not to speak to you but I ignored it. I forgot that a witch's promise isn't just about words. It's my fault for forgetting..."

Right after I let the words I just said run through my mind again I realised how stupid they must have sounded. I wasn't making a stand at all - all I was doing was blaming myself. But in the end it really was my fault for forgetting, wasn't it?  
I looked down again, trying to clear my thoughts.

He didn't seem to notice my self doubt... or maybe he was ignoring it... or maybe it didn't matter to him... but there was that worried yet disbelieving look again.

"Your magic - it's gone?"

"I'm sorry!"  
Wait why was I apologizing? That's not what I wanted to say! Did it really matter though? All of this seemed so surreal. As if all my time in the school had been some kind of dream slowly coming to an end. I just couldn't bring myself to believe that this all happened because of a single broken promise. But if I could feel the pain from the broken promise then my roommates sure knew about it too. I wouldn't be able to face them anymore. Not after they were trying so hard to get me away from the demon boy that tried to steal my soul. All of sudden I felt alone. I felt the same way I did before I came to Iris Academy. No one to actually turn to, no one to trust.

Damien wasn't an option here. He apologized, but that didn't mean I had forgotten about the danger he could bring. And even though I probably loved him I just couldn't bring myself to not doubt him sometimes.  
So in the end I was completely alone.

As all these emotions started to overwhelm me, his voice brought me back to reality.

"You're innocent..."  
_As if.  
_It was my fault for being stupid. And no one but him should have known better.

"You have to come with me. Now."  
I lifted my face, staring at him as if he just said something in a language that I didn't understand.  
_What did he say? Was he serious?_

"What?"  
But as soon as the words left my mouth I noticed the serious look on his face.  
I didn't have to question this. He **was **being serious.

"They'll be coming for you. Former witches aren't allowed to keep their memories.  
They'll wipe you clean and throw you away. You'll forget me, you'll forget everything!"

_Did I hear a hint of fear out of those last words? Was he really afraid of me forgetting?  
_Trying not to think about it I pulled myself together.

"That doesn't make sense! Why would they take your memories when you lost your magic already?"

Even though I was being serious about what I just said, he didn't seem to pay much attention to it. He looked at me, his eyes telling me that this was clearly not the time to ask questions.

"I have to get you away, as fast as I can. Come on."  
He reached for me. I hesitated.

_Could I really trust him? _

_If we escaped from the safe grounds of Iris Academy then, without magic, I'd be completely helpless in the arms of a demon!  
If I only could cast spells I would be able to read his mind.  
_Once again I tried to clear my thoughts. There was a war going on inside my head. And it was all about who to trust and who to be wary of.

I guess I didn't manage to hide my doubt in him since he looked away, blushing awkwardly.  
That blush wasn't meant to be cute in any way. Judging by the look he was making, he knew what I was thinking.  
It almost looked as if he regretted the things he did.

Then he returned the words that I couldn't bring myself to say to him.

"You have nothing to worry about! I'm not the one who took your magic. I'm not the one trying to take your mind. You don't have any power left for me to steal!"

He got a point there. I was an empty shell without any magic to take.  
_At least that was what we both thought at that time, not knowing that soon we'd be convinced otherwise._

Still I had my doubts.  
And instead of thinking about them I started to speak without my mind's agreement.

"But what will we do now?"

He looked back at me probably knowing that he had to answer at least this question to get me to actually listen to him.

"Find you new powers, if we can, or get revenge, if we can't. But we have to run, now!"

There was a clearly worried look in his face.  
But that wasn't a look of worry for me anymore; he was worried about what might happen if we kept on talking.  
He rushed a glance at our surroundings.

Then his face fell, revealing that one particular sad look that I knew so well. The same look with which he had tried to get me to give away my soul. Just that this time, it didn't seem to be a lie.

"I don't want to lose you."

He meant it. I **did** mean something to him.  
And without a second thought, I put my hand in his.

_Choose the man who loves me, who threw away his life for me, or choose to be brainwashed and abandoned? Easy call._

"Take me away!"

Surprised at my words at first but quickly catching up with me he pulled me closer and we teleported away.

Then blackness took over my eyesight. Every now and then I was able to see something that appeared to be parts of places we probably were teleporting through. But they went by far too fast to actually get an idea of what kind of places they were.

Where was he taking me to? The Otherworld? Wasn't that far too dangerous? Didn't he say himself that he wouldn't be able to protect me with his current power?

But before I could think any further, the blackness before my eyes got chased away by a hint of light that was slowly growing to full sight.

We had arrived at our destination.


	2. Chapter: What magic was like

Kasumi Mizuru had never been anything special. All she was good at was putting two and two together.  
That was one of the reasons she was good at board games, especially chess.  
But besides being a good thinker and being eager to find out about all kinds of things that couldn't be explained easily, there wasn't anything special about her.  
_Or so she believed._

She had long, straight purple hair, but she also loved to add curls to it.  
Her eyes had the colour of ametrine gemstones, with a light purple colouring and a slight orange touch in them.  
She was also very pale, not because she was ill, she just didn't spend much time in the sun.  
Most of her free time she spent either staying at home in her room or hanging out with her friends. She didn't have a close relationship to her family.  
It felt strange to talk to them since they never really listened, and eventually she stopped telling them things.

Little did she know that soon she would be given the chance to discover a whole new world.

* * *

My days were pretty ordinary, even in school I've never been someone gifted or talented in anything but art.  
It was in school where I learned to fake emotions to get along with everyone, even the ones I didn't like.  
That made it really hard for others to know what I was thinking, giving me a great advantage in some situations.  
All of this was nothing unusual to me.

Then, on my fifteenth birthday, something really strange happened.

I was playing hide and seek with my friends in the garden.  
They were supposed to hide and I was supposed to look for them.  
That was all there was to it.

But as I walked through the garden to look for them something felt very off. Voices in my head gave me information about where my friends were.  
I could almost tell what they were thinking!  
My mind gave me directions and all I had to do was follow them.  
I was able to find everyone, even the ones that found the best places to hide, within a few minutes, making them wonder if I had cheated in any way.

I wanted to tell them how I found them, but then again I felt like it would sound really strange and I knew they wouldn't believe me anyway, so I kept quiet.

It didn't take long for everyone to forget about it. Everyone except me.  
What just happened was beyond my understanding, but I wanted to know.

That night all I was thinking about was where the voices came from and how I was able to hear them.

* * *

The next day a strange old woman showed up to offer me the choice of my future.

She asked me, as if it was a completely ordinary question, whether I wanted to stay with my family or become a witch and experience magic.  
I couldn't believe her words at first.  
I doubt that **anyone** could have believed those words right away.

A total stranger, telling you about wizards, witches and magic?  
_Sounds pretty unbelievable to me.  
_Still I was curious and so I took the offer and decided to go for it.

* * *

And here I am - eighteen and on my way to Iris Academy, an actual school for magic.

The school was located in a hidden valley in the Green Mountains, about a hundred miles away from my hometown.  
I've been told that it had some kind of protective shield, making it even less noticeable for non-magical people so my parents had to rely on me to guide them to where I had to go.

We drove by car so it didn't take too long to get there.  
I actually was surprised to hear them asking if they should drive me there.  
I didn't expect them to ask, but it made things easier.

They dropped me off at the outskirts of the school grounds so I could walk the rest of the way on my own.  
We said our goodbyes and I turned around to walk towards my new school.  
How would things go there? I couldn't wait to see.

I carried my suitcases, which barely contained anything since the school was really strict about the things you could bring with you.  
While walking up to the school entrance, I took a look around.  
Nothing I saw looked magical in any way.

But when I reached the entrance and looked up the school building I couldn't help but stare for a while.  
This place was where I would be living for the next 9 months.  
Many doors and windows decorated the walls. And they all looked the same.  
This building surely didn't look like the kind of school you would usually go to but at the same time it was nothing like the things I had imagined.

The school rules said that you couldn't bring anything technical-like with you. No computers, cameras, cell phones and whatsoever.  
But seeing the rather old-styled looking building I wasn't sure if things wouldn't get boring without the equipment of the non-magical world.

Part of the school rules also was to wear the school uniform, a robe and a cape with the initials and the colour of your hall on it.  
As far as I knew there were six residential halls students were assigned to, three different halls for girls and three different halls for boys.  
Each hall had their own animal representation, which seemed to lead to the nature of a person, and also their own colour representation.

As I wandered around the more or less normal looking campus I caught sight of most of them.

Among the girls there was the snake hall.  
The students assigned to this hall looked a little mysterious, wearing purple capes as their representative colour.

Then there was the butterfly hall, where it looked like all the girly-girls got assigned to. _Definitely not my hall.  
_Their colour seemed to be light blue but I had only seen two light blue capes on the campus so far.

And then there was the third hall for girls - the hall **I** got assigned to - Horse hall, which apparently was for "adventurous" girls, whatever that meant. I couldn't find another horse on the campus, but since my cape was green, I kept my eyes open for another green cape.

As for the boys I've seen orange capes with wolf initials, dark blue capes with falcons on the robes and yellow-gold like capes with toads as animal representation. _Weird._

After my look around the campus, I felt myself standing around, lost.

Now that I had seen everything... where did I have to go?  
The doors weren't really helping since they all seemed to lead to some kind of corridor.  
I tried to look for the letter I've been given. It was a letter about freshmen orientation and as far as I remembered there was a side note on where to go on it.

As I looked through my stuff I completely forgot to watch my steps.  
So the first thing that reminded me of my failure was me bumping into someone.

I quickly got back on my feet to see who I just ran over.  
"Sorry, I didn't look where I was going."  
But instead of saying anything, the man standing before me seemed to judge me with his eyes, looking at me with disgust.

He was an older man in school robes, but he didn't wear a hall symbol on them which probably meant that he was a professor.  
_Great. Now I've done it. I already ruined my first impression to one of my teachers._

"Sorry, sir." I corrected myself looking away, feeling very uncomfortable.  
"A new student, I see. And what might your name be?" he asked, still looking as if he was judging me for what just happened.

He had a British accent and dark black hair with brown eyes.  
Under his left arm was something that appeared to be a large book, but I wasn't able to find out what it was about.

Probably catching me trying to take a look at the book, the professor's face seemed to relax a little, so I also started to feel more comfortable.  
"Kasumi Mizuru, sir. I just got here, and I'm not sure where I have to go."  
It was more a question than a statement, but the professor wasn't looking at me anymore.

Instead, he looked through the pages of the book he had been carrying.  
"Miss... Mizuru, isn't it? Wildseed. How unsurprising."  
While he talked he still didn't look up from his book, leaving me standing there in confusion.

"Excuse me? Wild?"  
What did he mean by wild? I didn't really get it.

"Most likely, a complete waste of my time. You have no idea how much you've been given, and you will throw it all away," he said, looking at me again, but with a look that clearly wasn't meant to be friendly.

What was his deal? Why couldn't he just tell me?

He scribbled something in the book, and then slammed it shut.  
"Ten demerits, not a promising start. Pay more attention to your studies than you do to where you are walking, Miss Mizuru, or you'll find yourself expelled from this academy before the new year."  
And with a snap of his wrist, he wrapped his cape around him and walked away.

It took some time until I realised that I hadn't even been given the chance to take classes yet and I already lost ten merits.  
_What a great day to start school!_

I continued to search for my hall. After some time I found the way that lead to the girls' dormitories and located horse hall.  
There were nine doors with one labelled as "bathroom". Wandering down the corridor I looked for my room.  
My paper told me that I would be having two roommates but it didn't tell me anything about them.  
Well, before I thought about them I should probably make it my priority to find my room.

I almost reached the end of the corridor when I saw it; room 3, my room.

I opened the door and picked up my suitcases.  
Looking around the room I just entered, I couldn't find anything special about it.  
I had imagined candles floating through the air, like in the Harry Potter movies, or a fake sky above me.  
But nothing like that was going on.  
It was a pretty normal room with three beds, a window and desks for everyone. And no decoration at all. Well, maybe my roommates just hadn't unpacked yet.

Suddenly I heard someone getting up - it was a girl that had been sitting on one of the beds.  
She had blonde hair and brown eyes.  
Briefly said, she looked completely normal, that normal, that I hadn't even realised she was there when I entered the room!

"Uhm...hello?"  
She seemed a little nervous talking to me.  
After I took a closer look at her I noticed her cape and her symbol.

"You're a horse!" I shouted, way too happy to have finally seen someone assigned to the same hall I was in.

She looked away slightly blushing in embarrassment.  
It was about then when I realised what I just said.

_Oops! Well, there we go again messing everything up right from the first meeting._

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I was just happy to see someone else in my hall. You're the only one that I've met so far!" I said, being slightly embarrassed myself.  
Seeing as she didn't answer, I tried to fix my mess by introducing myself.  
"I'm Kasumi. Are you my roommate?"

Finally she looked back at me, smiling.  
"One of them, I'm Ellen. That bed over there is Virginia's,"  
She nodded to a bed on the other side of the room.  
"…but she went out to talk to somebody."

_So the bed near the window was mine then._

"Nice to meet you!"  
I looked around the room once more. I've been to focused on unusual things so I had overseen the obvious.  
**Now** I noticed the books in the room. How did I not see them before? There were so many!

"Are all those books yours?" I asked, interested in what they might be about.  
"Yeah." Ellen said, looking away again.  
I guess it was pretty easy to make her nervous.

"There aren't any computers here so I brought my own encyclopedias," she explained.  
Then she looked at the books on one of the desks.  
"And those are textbooks for classes I would be taking this year if I hadn't left school."  
I took a closer look at the books. They were **really** just textbooks.

Slightly disappointed, I thought about an even bigger question that was still running through my head since I've entered the school.  
But I held it back and focused on the ongoing conversation.

"You must be a really good student then!" I smiled at her.  
Ellen sighed.  
"Not really. I probably won't even open them. But I didn't know what I'd need, and I didn't want to need something and not have it."  
Then she smiled again.  
"Those books are everything I could find out about magic, the real kind, now that I know it's real."

_So some of them were about magic!_

"Do you mind if I read them sometime? I really want to find out more about magic," I asked.  
As I spoke I walked over to my bed, sat down and laid back.

"I don't mind." she said, looking around the room, probably in search of a book she could lend me.  
Following with my eyes, I tried to keep what's bothering me out of my mind.  
"Isn't it great? We're going to be witches, just like in the movies!"  
She stared at me, then suddenly she began to smile an even brighter smile than before and through that smile, I sensed a hint of relief.  
"Oh, good. You're wildseed too," she then said, still looking as if she had just lost all her reasons to be nervous.

And there it was. The thing that's been bothering me the whole time. That one word she just said.

I jumped up, looking in her direction.  
Surprised by my sudden movement Ellen almost lost her balance, but I didn't have time to apologise.  
"What does 'wildseed' mean?" I asked, prepared for an explanation.  
"I've met a professor before and he was not exactly being nice about it."  
I couldn't hold back my curiosity anymore. I wanted answers.

"It means your parents weren't born to magic, so you're like a wild flower."

We both turned around to see a third person entering the room.  
She had dark red hair and purple eyes.  
That had to be the other roommate Ellen was talking about.

The girl held out her hand for me to shake and I took it.  
She had a pretty strong grip.

"Me, my family is all magical, so I always knew I'd be a witch. I'm Virginia," she said, smiling at me.  
"Kasumi," I introduced myself once again to my new roommate.  
"Pleasure to metcha," Virginia responded. She seemed to be far more relaxed than Ellen was, probably because she was used to all this while it was completely new to us wildseeds.

"So is being a wildseed bad?" I pressed her on. The conversation wasn't over for me. I wanted to know more.

"Nah, it's not bad!"  
Virginia put on a grin.  
"It's just that old Grabby likes to look down on people!  
He has problems with **everybody**, so don't take it personally."  
Slightly relieved about the fact that I wasn't the only one he seemed to hate I returned her grin.  
I already knew this school year wouldn't be candy land with professors like this.

"The professor grabs girls?"  
_Where did that come from?  
_We both stared at Ellen for a while. She seemed to be actually shocked.  
Suppressing a laugh I looked at Virginia. She had caught up on what happened and began to explain.  
"No, that's his name. Professor Grabiner."

"Oh.."  
Ellen blushed awkwardly and looked away.

Virginia caught her reaction and tried to change the subject back to the original conversation.  
"But you guys don't need to worry about it. Nobody cares whether you're born witches or not, not really. And everybody's scared of Grabby, he's a monster. William warned me about him."

"Who's William?" I asked.  
If I was going to go school again I'd make sure to get to know as many people as possible right from the start.

"My big brother - bigger brother. He's a senior. Donald's freshmen like us. They're in wolf hall," Virginia explained, looking pretty proud at the mentioning of William. But as soon as she was talking about her other brother Donald, she started to look more annoyed than proud.  
Then she suddenly smiled.  
"But enough about boys! What sports do you play? What do you like?"

_Huh? Why was she talking about sports all of sudden?_

"I like softball, but I'm better at volleyball," Ellen declared as if we had been talking about sports up until now.

"Good. Strong arms. Me, I prefer soccer. What about you, Kasumi?"  
I felt them both staring at me as I tried to find out what sports I liked most.  
Telling them that I was into chess would probably destroy their image about me.

And since I couldn't make up my mind, I decided to go with the next closest thing I was good at.  
"Uhm... I guess I'm mostly best at track. I like to run."  
That wasn't exactly a lie. I wasn't bad in track; it just wasn't my favourite thing to do.  
What I really liked to do was trying to read my opponents minds and winning by outrunning them, but saying that to someone probably sounded really strange.  
And with the latest events that had happened it didn't just **sound** strange, no, I knew the feeling of being able to fully read someone's mind, and it **was** strange.

Ever since that one time on my birthday I've had these voices locked up in my head.  
Thoughts of other people. When I was younger I couldn't control it, so I cheated at games without wanting to.  
But as I grew older, I was told that I had a strong connection to white magic.  
The 'mindreading' I've been doing was a spell I casted without realising.  
As soon as I understood that, I seemed to learn to only cast it when I wanted to.  
It was pretty useful sometimes, but I didn't want to rely on it. I wanted to read peoples' minds without cheating, with my own strength.  
And yes, I was fully aware of the fact that this wasn't a normal thing to look up to.

When it was decided that I'd be visiting Iris Academy I promised myself to not use the spell unless I really needed it.  
The problem was that I probably had even more spells in my mind that I didn't know of. So how would I notice when I was using them?

"…Your legs, her arms, and my fighting spirit."  
We're the total package! Go Horses!"

Virginias loudly said words brought me out of my thoughts.

"Are there sports teams for wizards here?" Ellen asked.  
And by the face she was making you could tell that she doubted it.

"Not exactly. There's bounders but that's not a real sport," Virginia responded.  
Then she rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing that real sport without magic is too much for them to take to actually make it a thing."

Ellen and I giggled. From all the things I imagined I never imagined a witch wanting to do sports without magic.

"But there **is **a gym, and we can start our own sports team if we have to! Right, Kasumi?" Virginia asked, looking at me as if my agreement was all she needed.  
_Why was she asking me? I couldn't possibly decide.  
_  
But I felt as if I said no to that, Virginia and I wouldn't get along.  
"I… guess?" I responded, still not quite sure of how I could get myself out of the situation. I hated it when I had to decide things I wasn't sure of.  
As I was thinking about what more I could say, Virginia took a step back as if she wanted to give me space.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm rolling you over aren't I?"  
_Pretty much yet not the slightest bit.  
_I was able to keep up, it was just the choices that confused me.  
"I'll let you unpack. C'mon, Ellen - I'll introduce you to my brothers," Virginia said.  
And with a hand sign at Ellen, who still looked a little surprised but attempted to follow her orders, they were about to leave the room.

Why would I let that chance slip away?

"I want to meet them too! I can unpack later. I don't have that much stuff to unpack anyways," I said as I was getting in line to leave the room with them.  
Virginia let out a small laugh.  
"True. I hate unpacking too. I made my mom do it."

_That's not what I meant.  
_But this wasn't the time to argue about small things. I was too focused on how her family would be like.  
"Shall we?" She asked, ready to run down the hall.

"Uhm… do you still want me to come?" Ellen asked nervously, making Virginia turn around to grab her arm.  
"Why wouldn't I?" Virginia responded.  
Ellen's face lighted up.  
"C'mon!" And then she pulled poor Ellen out of the door.

Virginia led us through the corridors and many school ways towards one of the boys' sections.  
I recognised the orange capes and the symbols on their robes. This was wolf hall.

A boy with bluish hair and purple eyes happened to notice our arrival, his cape floating behind him as he walked towards us.  
"Need a hand, ladies?" he asked in a way a gentleman would ask.

"No, I'm just looking for-,"  
I caught something flying in the corner of my eye. Ducking instinctively, I made what appeared to be a water balloon hit the side of Virginia's head instead.  
_What was that about__?_

While Ellen and I still were trying to detect the one that was behind this, Virginia seemed to be dead certain of who it had been.  
"DONALD!" she shouted.

"Yes! Headshot!"  
And out of nowhere, another boy from wolf hall appeared. He seemed to be one of Virginia's brothers… **and** the one she didn't get along with, judging by what just happened.  
He had black hair and greyish eyes.

As he walked up towards the boy standing next to us, Ellen and me could watch them both grinning at Virginia's attempts to dry herself with her robe. As the two boys met they exchanged high-fives.

"Nicely done!" The bluish haired guy said.  
"Thanks, but it wouldn't have worked out that well if this one here didn't have the cat skills she has," the guy that apparently was Donald said, pointing at me. "You have nice reflexes girl. I didn't think Urchin would bring friends with her, sorry."  
Even though he had apologised, the wide grin on his face clearly showed no signs of regret.  
_So this had been planned, huh?  
_I had a feeling that I just met the typical troublemakers every school was bound to have. The next time I saw them I'd keep that in mind.

"… This is my brother Donald," Virginia announced "… _the complete dork,_" she then added, seeing as all her attempts to dry her clothes had failed. Instead of introducing us to the guys, she turned her face to her brother who seemed to be more than prepared for what was about to come.  
"You are going to be in so much trouble," Virginia said, putting on a serious look.

"What are you going to do, Urchin? Tell Mom on me? She's not here!" Donald replied provokingly, but Virginia had already cooled down.

"I don't have to do anything. You'll end up in detention by the rest of the week just by being you."  
Neither of the two boys seemed to be impressed by her words.  
Once again Virginia eyed the parts of her robe that the balloon had drenched.  
"Look at me, I'm all wet!"  
She wasn't joking and yet Donald didn't seem to take her words as a serious complain.  
"Well, you're a witch now, aren't you? Magic yourself dry," Donald responded, smiling ironically.  
Then he turned his attention back to the other boy who was still standing beside us.  
"C'mon, Luke," Donald said and before Virginia could say a word, they hurried away to their room.

_So the other guy's name was Luke._

"Grrrrr…," Virginia growled.  
Then she let out a small sigh.

"V… is that you?" Another unknown person appeared. He had just entered the corridor and his attention was already focused on Virginia. "Hey, V! All moved in?" He walked towards us, revealing a look of confusion as he came closer, looking at Virginia's clothes.  
"Are you wet?" he asked.

"Yes. Thanks to Donald and his new best friend," she answered grimly. Then she took a quick look at me and I knew what she was going at.  
_Well, it kind of __**was **__my fault too.  
_"Sorry," I apologised. Then I tried to smile at her but it turned out to be more of an awkward attempt to mug.  
Virginia looked as if she hadn't been prepared for an actual apology.

"No need to apologise! I was the one that didn't pay enough attention. You did. There's no one else to blame but Donald," she implied.

The guy that still had his focus on Virginia had followed our conversation.  
"Aww. Poor thing. Here, let me," he said to her, holding out his hand.  
Suddenly a warm gust of air filled the corridor, melting away the droplets of water that clung to Virginia's hair and robe.

This guy was aware of some spells already so he probably wasn't one of the freshmen. Still Virginia seemed to have a close relationship to him.  
The only conclusion I could come up with was that he seemed to be the older brother Virginia had been talking about in our room.

As if the boy could only now that Virginia had been dried take a look at his surroundings, he noticed Ellen and me.  
"Are those your roommates?" he asked.

Then it crossed Virginias mind that she still hadn't introduced us to any of the boys.  
"Ah, right! Guys, this is William," Virginia said "...,my **good **brother," she remarked.

"William, these are my roommates. The one right there is Kasumi," she gave a quick hand sign in my direction.  
"And…" Virginia turned around, grabbed Ellen's hands and dragged her forward. "This is Ellen."  
Surprised about what just happened, Ellen didn't have the time to think about what to do, so she just stood there, staring awkwardly at William and me.  
"Alright, all done, now you know each other."

An awkward silence filled the corridor. Then William broke the silence.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, giving Ellen and me a wink.  
"You too," Ellen mumbled. Her cheeks had developed a bright reddish colour.  
_Oh, Ellen that was way too obvious._

"You keep an eye on V now. She's a little scamp. She'll get you into trouble," William continued. You could hear Virginia laughing ironically in the background.  
"Is V your nickname?" I asked her, eager to also make one up for her.  
"Nah, that's just what William calls me. It's better than what Donald calls me! I use my full name. It's not **that **long," she explained.

And before I could ask her if it was okay for me to find her a nickname that I could use, William got to speak again.  
"You kids should probably run along.  
Freshman orientation is tomorrow, and you'll have a busy week ahead of you."  
He looked like he was about to go, but then he added:  
"Not to mention initiation."  
And with that he turned around and walked towards his room.  
"I'll see you there!" was the last thing I heard him say.

Silence. What was that about?

"What's initiation?" I asked Virginia, looking rather helpless. Ellen had the exact same look in her face.  
Well, at least I wasn't the only one who didn't know what awaited her.  
"You'll find out!" Virginia said with a bright smile.  
_  
Suspicious._

"It's nothing bad usually, but it all depends on who you get," she stated.  
This didn't help at all. I looked at Ellen and she looked at me, all confused.

_Well, I guess it couldn't be helped. They wouldn't tell us more._

Suddenly Ellen's confused face turned into a face of even more confusion mixed with shock.  
Convincing myself that it was because of the things we've been told I shrugged, locking my own thoughts of confusion out of the way.  
Then Ellen grabbed my arm. She came closer to whisper in my ear.  
"How did you do that?"  
..._How did I do what?_

But before I could ask her she already replied.  
"Yes that! What you just did," Ellen whispered. "How are you able to get into my mind?"  
Ellen's words brought the chaos in my head back and made it even worse. I had no clue what she was talking about.

"Is it a spell you learned?" Ellen asked curiously.

And with Ellen's latest words a very bad feeling overcame me. _Did I do it again?_  
Wait, but if I thought about it now Ellen would find out!

I raised my head to look for Virginia. She was talking to someone from wolf hall. I guess she was tired of waiting on us without doing something.  
Then I took a quick look back at Ellen. Seeing as her expression hadn't changed, I sighed in relief. I guess it was over.

"I don't know what you mean, Ellen," I responded, knowing that this probably was one of the worst lies I've ever told.  
"But we should get going. I still need to unpack my stuff."  
Ellen couldn't hide her doubt in my words. Not even for a second. But she still went with it.  
"Oh… right," she said.

We both walked up to Virginia who told us that we took way too long and that we would find out about things tomorrow either way.  
Gladly she didn't know what we really had been talking about.

After we chatted a little more about sports, we went back to our room. Right after we entered, I let myself fall into my bed, staring at my suitcases.  
I had the energy to unpack them. However, not the will to do so.

But when I felt Ellen's judging look on me, I jumped up and started to unpack. I lied to her so I had to deal with the consequences.

* * *

As expected, the unpacking only wasted around 10 minutes of my time.  
There hadn't been much to unpack. Mostly clothes, washing things and sweets, that I had brought with me.  
Back in my bed again I took a look at my roommates.  
Virginia was already in her pyjamas, lying in bed, ready to sleep.  
Ellen was still reading on a book. I tried to get a glance at the cover, but her hand on it made it impossible to figure out what it was about.

I wondered if she still was angry with me. She probably was.  
But it had no use to think about it now.

Bringing myself into a comfortable pose, I closed my eyes to sleep.  
I would tell her in time. I would. But I needed to find out more about it before I could explain it to anyone.

Having all of the things that happened today running through my mind, I fell asleep...

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! :D  
As you probably noticed, chapter 2 has no connection to chapter one. So to avoid confusion I wanted to explain what I'm trying to do.

Chapter 1 basically is the preview to where the real stuff will start.  
Chapter 2 is made to get to know more about our MC, Kasumi.  
Chapter 3 and 4 are going to be summaries of Kasumi's and Damien's school year. I don't want to leave a gap in the story.  
As I stated before it's **not **going to be a full summary of the game.  
I will leave out things that happened in the game, and I will add things that didn't happen.

Chapter 5 and 6 will be the chapters continuing on where it all started. So yep, I hope that made things clear for anyone that got confused. :)

Also thanks for taking the time to read this!


	3. Chapter: The first encounter

The next day I woke up at around 8:30 AM to get ready for freshmen orientation at 9 o'clock.  
Once I got up, I took a look out of the window. One of the greatest advantages in having a bed next to the window was to be able to always check on what was happening outside.  
At first, I got confused when I saw no one on the campus but then I realised that they probably were in the gym already.  
Well, the freshmen for sure but what about the seniors? Did they have classes?

I took my time to think about all the things that might await us, but seeing as thinking about them wouldn't help me until I saw everything with my own eyes, I turned around to check on the room instead.

Except for some clothes that were lying on the floor by now, nothing had changed. No one had unpacked creepy candles or posters while I was sleeping. Slightly disappointed I took a look at my roommates.  
Virginia still had a hard time waking up, but Ellen was already sitting on her bed with her robe on, watching me.

"Mornin'," I yawned and almost let myself fall back into bed again. It had been too long ago since I last woke up that early and it would probably take some time to get used to it again. I didn't need much sleep but if I had the chance to sleep long then why shouldn't I take it?

"Good morning," Ellen said. "Did you sleep well?"

"I guess," I responded. "I don't really remember. What about you? It looks like you didn't sleep at all. When did you get up?"  
Ellen seemed to have forgiven me for yesterday or at least she was talking normally again, without that judging sound in her voice.

"I slept pretty good I think. Actually, I got up at 7:45. I wanted to be prepared for uhm... everything. So I read a book and then got ready. I've been waiting for you both to wake up since 8 o'clock," Ellen said, taking a look at Virginia. She sighed. "But I guess it's useless to **wait** for her to wake up."

We both let out a small laugh before I spoke up again.  
"Seriously though you didn't have to get up that early, Ellen. Freshmen orientation was announced for 9 o'clock. And what book did you read? I don't remember being told to read something..." I feared that I might have forgotten about it.

But instead of responding, Ellen held up a tiny book, and the fear that I had built up vanished just as fast as it had crossed my mind.  
As I took a closer look at the book I was able to read the small letters on its cover: 'Witches and Wizards - What you should know; what is true and what is false'. I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. When Ellen noticed my sceptical reaction she quickly put the book aside.  
"It's one of the books I found, about the real kind of magic, I mean. It tells you about the rumours of the magical world and what of them is true and what isn't. I know that a lot of what's written inside is probably false itself but I don't want to make any mistakes when I'm talking to other witches," Ellen explained, slightly blushing.

It was about then when I realised how nervous my reaction had made her.  
"Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure you won't make mistakes. I want to find out more about magic, too, but I think it's best to make your own experiences. Sure, books are nice, but they can't tell you everything," I said, trying to cheer her up. I wasn't sure if it worked, but Ellen was smiling, so I guess I wasn't too bad. I've never been good in cheering people up.

"Thanks, Kasumi," Ellen said after some time. "Since we're both wildseed, let's try to help each other out. I'd feel more comfortable to ask you if I don't get something than to ask a born witch." And before I could answer her, Ellen took a quick look outside and got up. "We should probably get going now. I'll go and wake Virginia, you can go on ahead."

I had completely forgotten about the time. It looked like freshmen orientation was about to start. I quickly got up and changed into my robe.  
Catching a quick sight of Ellen trying to wake Virginia, I went out of the room to brush my teeth.

As I walked down the corridor to go for the bathroom a sudden strange feeling made me stop in the middle of the hall.  
It felt as if someone was planning something. I couldn't really explain it in any other way, but if I had to be more exact, it was as if I was feeling someones' mind working, planning out something bad. I took a look around, checked on the door rooms and then I saw it; A shadow of a person near one of the doors. But he or she rushed past my vision way too fast to actually see if it was a student from horse hall or not. But no matter who it was, it definitely was **someone** sneaking in one of the rooms.

For a moment, I was planning to go and see for myself, but then again what if it **was** a horse after all. She'd just think of me as a freak if I'd randomly storm into her room, looking as if something suspicious had happened.  
But the bad feeling that I had felt before made me think about it longer than I had planned to.  
In the end, I still chose to ignore what happened and put my focus back on brushing my teeth.  
Even if my curiosity was killing me, it was none of my business to observe what was happening in another girls' room.

After I was done I walked to the entrance and waited for my roommates. It didn't take too long for a grumpy looking Virginia to show up in the corridor, followed by an annoyed looking Ellen. Just what happened between those two?

But as soon as they walked up to me, they're faces relaxed again. They didn't seem to have been through a fight.  
"Morning, Kasumi!," Virginia greeted me. "Sorry it took so long. Let's go!"  
Without waiting for an answer, Virginia grabbed us by our arms and showed us the way to the gym.  
Despite her trying, her face couldn't hide the wish to just go back to sleep again, so Ellen and I followed without saying a word.

* * *

It was exactly 9 o'clock when we arrived at the gym. And just as expected, we were the last ones entering. Everyone else had already gathered at their halls' side and waited for the announcement to start. We quickly joined the other horses and sat down on the last three remaining seats.

They all were wearing capes and robes, just like me. But there were also students that didn't look 'normal'.

One boy from toad hall had furry ears and a long fluffy tail. The ears and the tail were as silver as his hair, his eyes yellow, like the one's of a wolf.  
And that seemed to be what he was; a wolf in human form.

Then there was a girl with glittering fairy wings in butterfly hall. She had skyblue eyes and rose hair.

Right when I thought those two were the only ones that looked off the crowd, I noticed a girl from snake hall. She was even paler than me, with her dark blue hair and purple eyes only making it worse. She looked just like a vampire!  
Was that what it meant to be a born witch? Or were those just special cases?

Before I had the time to process the new things I had seen, everyone around me stopped talking, putting me out of my thoughts, and then someone stepped up to the podium.  
It was the woman that had invited me to Iris Academy. She was the oldest person in the hall. Her hair consisted of mixed colours: orange and purple with a brown taint over it.  
All in all she looked like a nice old lady, but looks could be missleading, and no one but me, who loved to hide her true feelings behind a mask, could've known better. That was the reason I usually never judged people by their appearances, and it had saved me a lot of trouble over the years.

Raising her hands, the woman welcomed us and after some faintly applauding she introduced herself. Her name was Professor Potsdam and she apparently was the headmistress, just as I had thought.

She told us about the different use of magic, and about the classes we could take. There was red, forceful magic; blue magic, the magic of transportation and change; green magic, the magic of life, plants and animals; black magic, that was mainly used for physical objects and white magic, the magic that affected mind and spirit, and also the only magic I was sure I wanted to learn more about.  
I've been focused on finding answers about white magic ever since I've been told that I had a connection to it. The questions that had filled my mind since then had to be answered, or else I would never be able to know why I could use that magic so casually.

Potsdam was saying something about how we shouldn't try to follow someone elses interests and how we should find our own ways and talents and see what education we needed, but I wasn't listening anymore. Once again my mind was filled with questions. Would they be answered in the classes?  
All I could do was hope for it.

When I turned my attention back at the speech, Potsdam was talking about the halls. She said nothing that I didn't know already, just amplified it a little more detailed. The only thing that was interesting was the end of her speech. She told us to trust our roommates, so that we would be able to work as a team for our final exams at the end of the school year. It sounded like a normal thing to say but still I felt as if this was a warning that told us that we better got along or we'd be facing problems sooner or later. But maybe it was just my imagination.  
It seemed as if our regular exams were held in the school dungeons.  
_Now, that was some interesting information._  
I didn't know the school had dungeons but now that I knew I couldn't wait to explore them.

* * *

After giving us an understanding of the most important school rules, Potsdam ended her speech and signaled us the okay to go. It took less than a minute for everyone to get in line to leave the gym.  
Some students looked like they wanted to start with everything as soon as possible, others looked bored of the long speech.  
Outside, each one of us got handed a paper with our schedules on it.  
It was the first time I actually had the chance to choose my classes on my own. In my old school I had to attend every single class without being able to focus on what I really wanted to do, so I was happy that this time was different.

I waited with my schedule selection and looked out for Virginia and Ellen or even Luke or Donald, but it was impossible to recognise anyone in the huge crowd of freshmen that were leaving the gym, so I sat down on a bench and took a closer look at the paper instead.  
All that was left to do was make up my mind on what magic I wanted to learn, then I would be able to start my school days at Iris Academy.

I tried to remember if Potsdam had said anything about any rules consisting the way I had to pick my classes. Were we supposed to visit all of them?  
To my surprise, gym class was also an optional regular class, and as far as I remembered, Potsdam said that we could also take days off as long as we didn't skip all of the classes. We could also use a day off to study if we wanted to, but I wasn't a big fan of studying on my own, so this wasn't an option for me, and the gym sounded way more interesting.

I had a hard time choosing, but in the end, I decided on white magic for today - since this was my first priority,  
gym class on tuesday - just to sneak a peek at how things were going there, black magic on wednesday - because I was a huge fan of dark magic and that was exactly what I thought of when I heard the words 'black magic', blue magic on thursday to learn about teleportation  
and red magic on friday - to get better in fighting and winning in eventual battles.  
Green magic sure sounded interesting too, but it had to wait for next week, since my curiosity about the other classes was outrunning it.

Confident about my first weeks' schedules I got up, mentally prepared myself for my first subject and then went to look for the correct classroom.

* * *

'How would we learn magic? Would they teach us to cast spells right away or would they start off with theory?'  
Those were the kind of questions that started filling up my mind as I walked down one of the many school halls to the white magic classroom.

When I arrived and entered the room I found Professor Potsdam standing by the chalkboard.  
_So she was the teacher for white magic...  
_"Good morning, starshines!" Professor Potsdam greeted us.  
She waited for everyone to take a seat before she continued to talk about the first instructions.  
"Relax. Get comfortable. That's very important when working with this particular style of magic," she said with a calm voice.  
All around the classroom, students tried to follow the rules and closed their eyes or fell back in the chair to get rid of the stress they had held in.  
I tried to ease my mind as well. Of course I was unable to fully relax since I was too focused on listening to her words, but at least I managed to get a little more comfortable with everything around me.

"To some people, white is the absence of a colour, a blank canvas. In the non-magical world, white is a complete spectrum, all colours combined into one," Professor Potsdam explained. "In some ways, you could think of white magic as either of these things. White magic is the tool to acces the spiritual realm." Potsdam took a break and silence filled the room. The silence made us able to concentrate on the words she had said, and when she spoke up again we we're ready to listen for more.  
"Ghosts. Dreams. Creatures from other planets. The thoughts of those around you. With White Magic you can experience and communicate with things that are normally hidden."  
_'The thoughts of those around you._'_  
'...communicate with things that are normally hidden.'_  
I had closed my eyes to be able to listen more carefully, but when those words echoed in my mind I found them wide open again, unable to ignore what was right in front of me.  
What the Professor just said were the things that had been troubling me. Those were the spells I casted without wanting to.  
Hearing them being said out loud made me feel better for a strange reason. It made me believe that I would be able to find answers and better understanding in class.

Potsdam seemed to notice. She was looking at me, smiling in a way someone really close to you would do.  
I couldn't help but feel a little creeped out by the way she looked at me, her eyes focused, as if she tried to tell me that she knew me perfectly well.  
I did my best to ignore the creepy facts and tried to bring my focus back on relaxing and listening.

Time passed by way too fast and at the end of my first magic lesson, I still didn't have any answers. But for now, the knowledge that I would get them was enough for me to feel better. Potsdam hadn't said more about what white magic was about. Instead, she had warned us not to use it to control someones' mind by force or for anything bad in general. She said that asking for help is the best way to use it and that you should never think of yourself as someone superiour to spiritual entities, whatever that warning was about.  
Taking my notes with me, I left the classroom.

* * *

I walked down the halls, on the way back to horse hall, when I saw a bunch of freshmen and seniors standing in a bigger corridor.  
The robes and capes told me that they were mostly people from snake hall with a few students from wolf hall in between and one girl from horse hall in the middle.  
They were arguing about something, and they were loud enough for me to catch parts of their conversation.  
"...I don't think so. There is no way that one of us did it! Everyone was at the gym at that time," the girl from horse hall said. She seemed to be one of the freshmen. A girl from snake hall tried to speak up, but the girl from horse hall wasn't done talking. "If you're trying to find someone to blame, think before you talk! It's obvious that it had to be one of the seniors!"  
The girl that had tried to speak before had given up on it. She sighed and a guy from wolf hall gave her a warning glance in return.  
"But then, **anyone** could have done it. And that isn't possible," another girl from snake hall hissed, with a hint of assurance in her voice. "We found clear evidence, and it's working against you!" She raised her finger to point at the girl from horse hall.  
It was the first time that I had seen a snake losing her cool.  
"If you want to believe that, you can. I won't stop you. But don't blame me if you are going to get in trouble for it," the girl from horse hall opined.

Just what were they talking about?

Before the snake hall girl had a chance to comment on the other girls' words, Donald and Luke made their way through the corridor, filling it with tension. They stopped when they saw the small group of people, and then me. I had completly forgotten to get back in cover, so both of them raised their hands to greet me.

When the girls from snake hall followed their eyes and also caught sight of me, they mumbled something and then gave up their formation to walk back to their hall. The guys from wolf hall followed suit, greeting Donald and Luke as they passed by. The horse hall girl sorted her thoughts for a moment, then she also went to return to her hall. She looked relieved that it was over.

I was pretty sure that I'd be the topic of every single one of them, mentioned as 'the one that eavesdropped', but I would have to live with that.

"Hey, Kasumi! What are you up to?" Donald asked, smiling. I replied with a judging stare.  
Donald's smile faded quickly and instead, two confused looking faces were watching me.  
"Why did you do that? They didn't notice me until you came up here. I wanted to find out what was going on," I said.

I was given a great opportunity to get information about something, and I missed it. I was fully aware that it was my fault for losing my cover, but they should've been able to tell that I didn't want to be found, so part of it was their fault too.

Donald attempted to answer but Luke was the first one to catch up.  
"Wait, but you're a horse. Didn't they tell you what happened? The snakes made a huge fuss about it on the campus," Luke said.  
As he saw my confused face, he figured I didn't know and explained.  
"There's a thief going around. I'm not sure if what I heard is true, but it looks like something got stolen from one of the snakes while they were at freshmen orientation - an important bracelet or whatever. Anyway, the snakes searched all over the school and asked everyone for permission to look into their rooms and then they found it in one of the freshmens rooms in horse hall. A girl had allowed them to take a look around when her roommates weren't there. Now her roommates are being treated for it, and the girl that gave them the allowance to enter the room is having a hard time defending them." Luke shook his head and sighed.  
He couldn't understand why someone would make such a big deal out of a small thing. And I couldn't blame him. I couldn't believe it either.

"Now the fun part is that there's no way the horse girls could've done it since they're all freshmen and they were all at orientation when it happened!" Donald added with a wide grin, probably trying not to laugh about the stupidy of the snakes.

"I thought the snakes were smarter," I admitted. I always thought of them as mysterious and quiet, but wise.  
"I heard William saying they're not usually like that. But it seems that the bracelet was a present from someone who died so she blew the fuse," Donald told me before he gave Luke a pat on the shoulder.  
"Well, we gotta go-" but before Donald could finish, Luke cut him short "**YOU** gotta go. I have other things to do, you know."  
He pushed Donald in the direction I came from.  
"I gotta help my brother. Make sure to hurry and come along once you can. No dawdling." They both grinned at each other.  
"Have I ever failed you?" Donald laughed, and Luke hit him in the side.  
Then Luke turned around to walk down the rest of the hall and leave into one of the empty classrooms where the seniors took their lessons.

At my first day of school I had no idea Luke had a brother, but I had seen them both walking down the hall when I had classes, and even without knowing his brother I could tell they were related. Twins, to be more exact.

"What does your brother need help with?" I asked him before he got out of my sight.  
He seemed to think for a second but then decided to keep quiet.  
"Sorry, I can't tell you yet. But I'll make sure to sign you up once we're done with the preparations," he said before completly disappearing behind the classroom door.  
What could you possibly prepare in a classroom anyway?

I looked back at Donald, who was enjoying my confusion over the situation. He sure knew what was going on but there was no point in trying to get him to tell me. "So I heard you gotta go somewhere?" I asked instead and he looked as if he didn't know what I was talking about until it hit him.  
"Ah, right! I gotta drink tea with the professor. Grabiner really likes me, you know," Donald joked and then he took a leave as well, running in the opposite direction Luke had left. "See ya around!"  
In other words, he somehow managed to get detention on the first day of school. I began to doubt that he'd survive the school year at all.

* * *

Back in my room, lying on my bed I thought about the stolen bracelet. It couldn't have been one of the freshmen or the seniors in class, but there definitely was one person that could have been it. I reworked the scene from early in the morning in my head, saw the shadow at the door again, tried to think of any more details, but it had no use. It all had ended just as quick as it had started.

And that the thief was able to go through with it was part of my fault too.  
_Next time,_ I thought, _the_ _next time I'd see him again I wouldn't wait._  
But for now I had to know more about the bracelet to get a clue on who he was. I wanted to know.  
I didn't even feel the need to catch him doing it again, I just wanted to know who it was, who I ignored that day, when I clearly felt that he was no good.

I was done thinking it over. I changed sides to look at Virginia and Ellen who were sleeping already.  
Ellen had been super excited when she told me about her first day in school. Virginia's reaction had been the total opposite. She hated classes and already knew most of the things they taught. I wish I had her problems, I'd love to know more without having to learn it a first.

Neither Ellen nor Virginia had heard of what happened between horse hall and snake hall, so I had to tell them.  
They were surprised and thought that I made things up at first, but then Virginia remembered two students in her class fighting, a horse and a snake, so they believed me after all. I didn't tell them about the shadow I had seen. If more horses got involved too much, we all would soon be known as thieves and I wanted to find the one that was behind it before this could happen.

* * *

On Tuesday, I woke up late for gym class. The sun had already set and the campus was packed with students talking to each other or going to their next lesson. Virginia had told me that gym class was a 'free class' so I could take my time to go there, but I hadn't planned to get up **that** late.  
I hurried to grab my robe and cape and put them on while I was on my way to leave the room.

Both my roommates should be in class right now.. and I was able to take my time and relax. _Hah._

But after sleeping way longer than I had wanted, I felt the need to take gym class more serious and get there by the time I had planned to.  
And so I ended up hurrying through the corridors of the school to the campus outside, towards the gymnasium, with no idea what would await me or who would be the one in charge. Professor Potsdam or Grabby? No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't imagine them as coaches or anything sport related. The pure thought of Grabiner in a sports suit made me giggle. Would we even wear sport clothes?

When I entered the gym, a view I hadn't expected opened up to me. The hall was filled with small groups of students, playing cards together. Everyone still had their robes on and there was no sign of a professor, just a bunch of equipment that everyone could use. Nothing magical.  
All in all, it was a great disappointment, but I decided to stay and see what I could do.  
_'There shouldn't be any problem in playing basketball or soccer if this was a free class'_ I thought as I browsed through the equipment in search for a rubber ball.

"Well, hello there."

The sudden voice behind me made me jump a little.  
I turned around to see who was talking when a second shock occurred to me.  
**Who** or **what** was he?

Standing there was a boy wearing a falcon hall robe. He had - if my eyes didn't deceive me - blue skin, byzantine coloured long hair, amethyst purple eyes and the most important thing; he had wings. Dark purple wings with a sharp claw on both ends. Demon wings.

Nothing was screaming 'danger' as much as he was.

I hid my shock and tried to fight my curiosity, but it had already taken over me and I just couldn't help but give in to it, now that I had found someone to ask.

"Why do you have wings?" The words left my mouth before I had the time to think about them.  
"...if you don't mind me asking," I added as soon as I got my control over the situation back, slightly blushing.

The boy chuckled.  
_Well, at least he didn't take the blunt question as an insult._

"You're new at this, aren't you?" he asked, smiling in amusement.

"I'm freshman, if that's what you mean," I replied, mustering him while trying to maintain a low profile.  
He took a step closer to me, wings extending slightly to catch the air.  
I wanted to step back, seeing as he looked even more off the crowd than the girl with the fairy wings did, but I felt as if this would be too obtrusive, so I didn't move and looked him directly in the eye instead. His eyes were focused on me, curious yet all-knowing. The mysterious demon boy gave off a strange aura that I couldn't dedicate to anything I've felt before, which was why I needed to be careful while talking to him.

"That is not what I meant," he said, still smiling. "You've never seen anyone with wings before, that is."  
He was correct. Obviously. Sure, I had dreamed of people with angel wings or devil wings like in the movies before, but I had never imagined them to exist.  
Coming here to Iris Academy and seeing them right in front of me was like a dream coming true, but I couldn't let my excitement show.

"Uhm... no," I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "I'm sort of 'wild seed'."

"And a lovely blossom you are," he said with no sign of irony in his words.  
I apprehended the words but my thoughts went on too fast to react to them. There was so much more that I wanted to ask.  
Looking back at the strange people I had seen at orientation, I tried to think of a good way to frame a question without sounding weird.  
"But really, I don't know how things work. It's my first time seeing different people. Is that normal, for born-wizards to have wings and tails and stuff?"

The boys' eyes widened in thought of my words, reflecting that I said something unexpected.  
_Did I make him angry?_ But it was already too late to explain myself.  
"Normal? I'd rather not have you think of me as anything so ordinary," he deemed with a steady voice, but I was prepared to get shouted at.  
Before he said any more, he brought back his smile as if nothing had happened, then he began to explain.  
"Wings or tails; everything a wizard or witch shows may be presented as a mere fashion statement. They're available at the local store, if you'd like your own."  
_Wait, what?__  
_"You can buy wings?"  
I looked at him, raising an eyebrow.  
"...are you teasing me?"  
Something that could've been a grin, if it hadn't faded that fast, was showing on his face for a second.  
He seemed to be enjoying the conversation.  
"Yes. And no. You'll have to discover the truth for yourself."  
He looked at me calmly.  
I took the moment to muster him for a second time. He looked like he knew a lot. Not only about the school and magic, but about worlds that I had never been to. And he was extremely careful with the information he gave.

"My name is Damien. And you are?"  
**_Damien._** The name echoed in my mind and it felt as if I had heard this name being said before, from the same boy standing right in front of me.  
_But that wasn't possible, was it? Or did I use magic again?_

"Kasumi," I quickly answered, before my hesitation would make me look suspicious.

Damien took my hand and bowed over it, wings flattering behind his back. I had not been prepared for this, but I managed to not let it show.  
"A pleasure to meet you," he said before he resigned to give me space again.  
"Same here."  
I thought about his name for a second and about what made me think that I had heard it before.  
I was sure that I did not know this boy. I would've remembered!  
"Damien...," I mumbled to myself.  
Only when I saw him looking at me in confusion, I noticed that I had been speaking. I quickly tried to make something up. Something that seemed less strange.  
"Damien... that's sort of an unfortunate name, isn't it? I mean with those wings and the blue skin, people might think you were the devil."  
_That was the most stupid thing you could've said. Why? Just why couldn't you come up with something better at least once?_  
I looked at Damien. Nothing had changed.  
"I'm sure you know better than to judge by appearances," he said.  
I had been so sure that I had crossed the line by now, but his voice had not a sign of anger in it. He had probably heard the same things from other people multiple times and I was just one more to go for his looks, stupid me. This wasn't how I usually was.  
Apologizing now would only make things harder so I decided to go with a cold facade instead. I crossed my arms and kept my voice as evenly as possible.  
"You don't know me."

To my surprise he had been prepared for this.  
"I know the important things. You're a freshman student, an innocent young woman caught up in a world you don't understand."

A bit overdoing it there, but he was right. I still had a lot to find out about magic before I'd be able to catch up with the seniors.

"You're dazzled by sights you never thought possible, and completely unaware of the dangers you might face."  
"Dangers? What kind of dangers?"  
Danger surely wasn't a good thing but I liked challenges. Luckily, Damien was too focused on what he had to say to notice the excitement in my voice.  
"You could lose your mind here. Or your life. Or worse."  
He paused for a moment to watch me, but my reaction didn't change.  
"Not everything is as it seems, especially your teachers."

With another raised brow and a sceptical look I began to wonder...

"Potsdam and Grabiner? There is definitely something going on with Potsdam but I'm not sure about Grabiner. I've only met him once and if I had my way that'd be enough for a lifetime." Damien hid another grin, then his face became serious and I let his words run through my mind. "But if they're really no good... what should I do?"  
He smiled again, probably relieved that I didn't take his warning too lightly.  
"Be cautious. Attend at least the first lecture for each style of magic as soon as possible. Pay attention to what they tell you, and what they don't." Right when I thought he was done he added: "And don't believe everything you hear."

This didn't help at all. Everything he just said could've been to make fun of me then, but either way I had to be careful. I had realised that the second I entered the school. Not everything was as it seemed.  
"You better get on with your physical training. You'll need your strength next week."  
Back to reality, I looked at the plain equipment. How was I supposed to train with that?  
"What will happen next week?" I asked, while trying out different kinds of softballs.  
"You'll find out," Damien said. I turned around to find him winking at me and then walking off to the sports equipment office.

His behaviour seemed a little unusual but somehow it was fun to talk to him. I wondered if I would find another chance to get to know him better. His skin and the wings, they fascinated me.

After I lost sight of him I turned my attention back to the softballs and gym class, trying to find a way to work with what I had.  
Without anyone to train with, this was probably going to be a really boring class.

* * *

A/N: So I caught myself writing way too detailed in this one which means the 'school part' is probably going to be a little longer since I'm having a lot of fun writing it. But I'm gonna try not to cross the line of 4 chapters for the 'flashbacks'. It still won't be a full summary of the game, just a few school memory moments with a little more detail into them (yes, there will be a lot more demon in the next ones, if you know what I mean °~°) I'm just hoping this won't be too boring for you guys.

Also I went a lot with the original Damien conversation here since I wanted to keep the first expression of the 'Damien' the game introduces. The future conversations will be slightly different though so no worries.


End file.
